Welcome

Welcome to the POZ/AIDSmeds Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and
others concerned about HIV/AIDS. Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the
conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning: Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive
and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a
username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own
physician.

All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators
of these forums. Click here for “Am I Infected?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ/AIDSmeds community forums.

We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please
provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are
true and correct to their knowledge.

Author
Topic: any ladies with info on pregnancy? (Read 4978 times)

hi ladies me & my negative partner have been trying for a baby for about 8 months. i am undetectable & cd4 is 500, have recently changed meds from kaletra truvada to keeping the truvada & reyataz & norvir. i took first dose yesterday so far so good! was wondering if anyone has any info on being pregnant or after the baby is born what meds it takes or how long? anything at all would be great. my doc said to me i wouldnt have to go onto azt anymore as i have been undetectable for so long now. thanks girls x

My experience has been: Combivir and Kaletra that I started in my second trimester to prevent transmission to the baby while I am pregnant. I didn't need it for myself but I did need it to make sure I don't transmit to the baby.

I'll have AZT intravenously during delivery. They encourage a vaginal birth here in the US if you are undetectable, I know the British guidelines for pregnancy are a little different. I'm planning a C-section even though my viral load has been undetectable. The baby will get AZT in liquid form 4 times a day for the first 6. I'm not going to breast feed, although it is a possibility if you stay on your medications and stay undetectable.

Personally, for me -- it has been a "normal" pregnancy so far. I haven't had to do anything different than I would if I were negative except take my HIV medication. I have felt well the whole time (luckily!) and am hopeful that the baby will be healthy. My partner is negative as well, so we had to conceive artificially at home. I started taking prenatal vitamins and folic acid ahead of time, I think that might have helped us get pregnant quickly. Plus eating a healthy diet, exercise, all of that stuff.

There are some different things from the US guidelines -- looks like the UK does AZT monotherapy twice a day for the infants instead of 4x here in the US, but I am sure your doctor will go over all of that with you !

I don't know anything about the combo of drugs that you are on for pregnancy, but again, your doctor knows best for that sort of thing. Good luck !!! I have 9 weeks of pregnancy left ... hoping for the best.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Thanks Sara & Ann, i will have a look at those links, when does the baby get tested for hiv itself does anyone know? as far as i know theres a small chance isnt there of baby being positive if everything is done by the books & undetectable etc? thanks again x

Oops, I stand corrected by Ann-- I guess it's not possibility to breast feed. Interesting, because my HIV doctor told me it was an option if I stayed on my medication. I just dismissed it right away because I knew I wasn't interested in any additional risk -- I wonder why he mentioned it ?

Anyway, the baby gets tested for the HIV itself several times. I believe the first test is within the first 2 weeks of birth, that test is a viral load test and hopefully the baby is undetectable. They will repeat the viral test over the first few months. The baby WILL test positive for HIV antibodies for the first several months until it sheds the mother's antibodies and starts making its own antibodies. This does not mean that the baby has HIV, it just takes some time for the baby to make its own antibodies. I think they say 12-18 months before they recommend the confirmatory antibody test where the baby will (hopefully) test negative for the antibodies, but I'm not sure exactly of the timing.

There is always a chance of the baby being positive even if you do everything by the book. The chances for transmission are small but nothing is ever 100%. I have read different statistics on this -- but generally they say the risk is somewhere under 1%. Nothing is for certain, but the odds are very good for having a negative baby. It is scary to me still that I cannot know for sure -- but I am doing everything in my power to keep my baby negative. One key is having access to good medical care. Looks like Ann gave you a good web link for information as well.

I have been MIA for awhile but I just wanted to add my 2 cents. I just had my latest in Feb of this year and he had 3 tests. The 1st at birth, then at 6 weeks and the last at about 3 months. My son was negative from the beginning.

Oops, I stand corrected by Ann-- I guess it's not possibility to breast feed. Interesting, because my HIV doctor told me it was an option if I stayed on my medication. I just dismissed it right away because I knew I wasn't interested in any additional risk -- I wonder why he mentioned it ?

Wow, Sara, your doctor told you that? That really surprises me, especially coming from a doctor in the States, where women have actually been taken to court for defying medical advice and breastfeeding when hiv positive. I thought maybe you were just assuming it would be ok because of having an undetectable VL.

My hiv doc (in the UK) has quite a large number of women who are pregnant and/or have small babies/children and I'll try to remember to pick his brains on this when I see him in late January. Everything I've read to date has said ... well, what I said above.

The only time I've seen different advice is when the mother and child are living in a resource poor area where not only do they not have access to hiv meds, but they also do not have access to clean water to make formula with. In this case they reckon it's better for the child to be exposed to hiv and maybe live until meds are available (or maybe be in the lucky, small percentage who do not get hiv from their mother without medical intervention) than to die at two or three weeks old due to diarrhea. (pretty grim, eh?)

UKLady,

The statistical figure for the baby being born with hiv despite everything being done correctly is less than 2%. When you compare that statistic with statistics of all the other things that can possibly go wrong, it puts it into perspective. Personally, I've never heard of a child being born positive to a positive mother when the mother is under medical care and undetectable.

"...health will finally be seen not as a blessing to be wished for, but as a human right to be fought for." Kofi Annan

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man. Mignon McLaughlin

HIV is certainly character-building. It's made me see all of the shallow things we cling to, like ego and vanity. Of course, I'd rather have a few more T-cells and a little less character. Randy Shilts

Yes, I am surprised also now that I have looked into it more. It was my primary HIV doctor that mentioned it in regards to stopping meds. I just passed it off quickly knowing I would not breast feed, so perhaps I misunderstood. I am also seeing a specialist in peri-natal HIV transmission on top of my normal HIV doctor -- the specialist of course said don't breast feed, period.

And UKLady -- my specialist told me that in my home state of Minnesota, over 500 babies have been born to HIV positive Moms over the past several years. Of the mothers that followed the protocol (took their medication, did not breast feed etc, etc ), there have been (to this point) zero transmissions to the babies. There is no guarantee of course, but those are pretty good numbers.

"My partner is negative as well, so we had to conceive artificially at home"

Hi girls - Ad SRMN98 Specialy .. can u please specify about the above ? hw exactly did you do it ? (sorry for getting into details). The thig is I am beng treated with a private dr. and on last week while I was ovulated he had to go to the army (i am frm israel) and he could not treat me so I tried to do it at home but I am not sure if i diid it right.

I had already seen an HIV doctor as well as a peri-natal HIV specialist to make sure that my body was ready to get pregnant AND to make sure that I would be put on the appropriate HIV medication to prevent transmission to the baby.

So, it was nothing too high tech. I actually found a needless syringe (this is embarrassing) at the pet store -- it was a medicine dropper for a cat.

well thanks a lot. funney , cause this is more or less what we did, You are lucky it successed ont he first time. Tell me, how do u know exactly when do u ovulate.. did you use these sticks ? cause I did, so on Thursday's eve. i treid the stick ans there were 2 stripes so "we did it" , on the day after there was only 1 stip but we did it anyway again.. are you getting any support of progresterone?

Logged

bleueyes

I had my daughter naturally, I had no time before the delivery for the IV. I was given AZT in the form of a pill. Directly after her birth, I believed they used some cleaning solution to cleanse her free of the HIV. I took Combivir and the other pill I don't know the name to, as I was on a study and there is a possibility I took a placebo. I was treated very well as I was monitored so often I was always at the hospital or OB/GYN. My OB/GYN had this idea of a c- section except I did not want to go that way. I had my daughter the regular way, most likely because the staff could not reach the doctor. And no one knew the protocol. After her birth she was put in an incubator. My daughter will be eleven in five days. She is negative. Sometimes I wonder what this placebo was, but I am happy with the results none the less. Ohh and during my pregancy I gained fourty pounds, so I was healthy all the way through.

hello, i am pos and have been trying to be pregnant for the past 3yrs.MY HIV specialist changed my medications to Norvir,Truvada and Rayataz.He said they were grade A meds and will be good during pregnancy.He however was strongly against breastfeeding.

Ann,thanks alot on the article on self insemination.i am going to try that route.